Girls’ Generation – 소녀시대 – Holiday

K-pop mega stars ‘Girls’ Generation’ are back, just in time (naturally) for their tenth anniversary.

Also known as SNSD, the South Korean girl group is composed of eight members: Taeyeon, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona, and Seohyun. Groups come and go often in what’s the blink of an eye for American pop units, but SNSD (as they are often called in Korea and by K-poppers abroad, a simplification of their name in Korean) have remained doggedly present, through thick and thin.

The music found on Holiday Night is predictably pristine, focused pop flexing, produced into a snug bastion of sound. Inevitably, the familiarity makes it equally safe. Brushing off the omnipresent oddity that this is yet another K-pop album handled far more by European hit makers than Korean producers, it still all feels a bit standard, if assured. A certain overconfidence on SM’s part seems to rule here: they pulled out all the stops to help create strong songs for the group’s members delving out into solo careers, but when it comes to the unit itself? They’re already so established, did they really need to do more than show up on their big day? SM doesn’t seem to think so, more focused on giving the actual hits to fresher units such as Red Velvet.

It’s somewhat fitting, as – understandably – the group isn’t going to have the drive or energy of their younger peers; they’ve already done it all. Naturally, there’s still plenty to be said for the confidence of experience, and the ladies certainly sound comfortable and at home here. One just wishes that rather than simply show up with their best foot forward, that they’d really taken a shot for that top spot again. Instead, they seem happy to merely extend their residency.
The music found on Holiday Night is predictably pristine, focused pop flexing, produced into a snug bastion of sound. Inevitably, the familiarity makes it equally safe. Brushing off the omnipresent oddity that this is yet another K-pop album handled far more by European hit makers than Korean producers, it still all feels a bit standard, if assured. The question lingers: what do Girls’ Generation have left to prove?